Where every day in the kitchen is an adventure!

Muse Restaurant, Hunter Valley

A recent girly weekend away to the Hunter Valley with some food blogger pals resulted in a hunt for somewhere special for dinner. Chanel from Cats Love Cooking suggested Muse Restaurant (where she held her wedding reception no less!) and off we went to share a truly memorably dinner.

There were some pretty good things on my entree plate on this evening! The stand-out element was definitely the quail’s breast. It was seasoned really well and was cooked to perfection. My accompanying quail’s egg had a perfect runny yolk which made a lovely rich sauce to dip the breast in. Definitely a good start to the meal and was surprisingly large for an entree size, not that I was complaining ;).

This palate cleanser was a lovely little freshener between courses. The ruby grapefruit flavours went really well with the crrrunch of the freshly diced apple. I especially loved the addition of the baby coriander which gave it a lovely kick.

This was my main for the evening and I absolutely loved it. Two tender, perfectly cooked fish fillets (honestly is there anything better than a piece of damn well-cooked fish??) that were sooo silky and just melted in your mouth. The fish was accompanied with a good handful of incredibly flavoursome mixed mushrooms and finished with a sweet miso sauce which matched everything on the plate so beautifully. An incredibly memorable dish that I would order again and again. Don’t be deceived by the photo – this was actually an incredibly large main, even though it looks small in the photo. This is because of the way it spread out on the plate – which was incredibly massive. Biggest plate I’ve eaten off, haha. It was actually so filling I very sadly failed to completely finish my second fish fillet – but this should just let you know how large the entree and mains I had were! We also added side dishes, which I really enjoyed, but I don’t think were necessary as my meal was so big!

I had a spoonful of this chocolate mousse and minty cream and it was riiiich. The mint cream was a good balance for it but I think it also would have been nice with a creamier but less sweet element to balance it more. This would be a good dessert to share between two people because it’s so rich. The gingerbread also gave this dessert a nice textural element.

Petit fours, chocolate macarons and salted caramel chocolates.

A lovely group of dining companions. 🙂

It had been awhile since I’ve had a meal this fancy and this really reminded me how much I enjoy fine dining. There’s something about the ambience, the great service and of course the sublime food that is such an enjoyable and special experience.

If you’re looking for convenient nearby accommodation to Muse Restaurant and Café, we stayed at the Hunter Valley Crowne Plaza. It was only a couple minutes drive away and close to plenty of other great Hunter Valley attractions (i.e. chocolate & cheese shops and wineries!)

Special thanks goes to Chanel from Cats Love Cooking for introducing me to such a wonderful restaurant and JJ from 84th and 3rd for helping light food photos in the swanky romantic lighting of Muse Restaurant with the aid of an iPhone!

Beautiful photos of a beautiful dinner! I’m so happy everyone had a great time. I loved how delicious and creative my vegetarian dishes were, plus all the in-betweens! A fancy fine dining dinner really is a lovely treat 😀

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About Me

Hi! I'm Christine - I'm a Sydney based chef student by day & food blogger by night. I love learning about food every single day and share my adventures with you here. Thanks for reading! You can contact me on christine@cookingcrusade.com - I'd love to hear from you!